Breakfast
by HectorVictorious
Summary: A divorced father and his daughter wake up to a more than stressful situation. A father and daughter's battle to survive. They travel the globe in an attempt to find refuge from the dead.
1. An Upsetting Morning

He whacked his funny bone when he woke up on Wednesday. It hurt, but not enough to stop him from standing up and staring at the sharp corner on his bedside stand.

"I've gotta move that thing. Every morning, damnit. Every single morning," he muttered to himself. After shaking his head at the small table a few times, he turned and walked out of his room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

"Morning, dad!" said his daughter Jaimie.

"Hey."

"Sleepyhead. I've been up for ages."

"Yeah. I want coffee." He reached in vain for the coffeepot from his seat at the table.

"You know, instead of reliance on some chemical to wake up, you ought to try going outside. It's a nice day out, you know."

"No it isn't. Look outside, it's cloudy." He gestured to the window over the sink.

"The air is still fresh."

"Not in humid, humid August. Oh, that reminds me."

"What?"  
"Niece is coming over soon. What time is it?" he said. Jaimie groaned. "What do you not like about her? She's my best girlfriend since Claire."

"I hate how she's so formal. She calls you Reuben."

"That is my name, you know."

"Most people call you Rob."

"I know, but she grew up rich. You can't blame her. Formal dinners and the like. What time did you say it was?"

" I didn't say."

"Don't throw me that teenage sass, young lady." He smiled at her. He knew she hated it when he made fun of her like that.

"It's ten thirty."

"Thank you. She'll be here in around a half hour." Jaimie groaned again.

Reuben walked back upstairs to the bathroom, he needed a shower. It was a quick one, he needed to be ready for Niece. She wasn't the type of person who would respond well to being answered at the door by someone in boxers. Not even Reuben.

As he put on his pants, some nice comfy jeans, heard a rather loud scream sound from out his window. It sounded like it was a few blocks away at least. Reuben, slightly shaken, went back downstairs. He found Jaimie sitting on the couch in the living room, staring blankly at the television. It was off.

"And you persecute me for being lazy, look at you, you won't even reach over to the remote-"

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"The scream?"

"Yeah."

"It was loud."

"Yeah?"

"When someone screams like that, they're hurt."

"So?" He didn't understand.

"I was watching the news." Jaimie reached and picked up the remote. "And then I heard the scream."

"What was on the news?" Reuben was starting to get concerned. The look on Jaimie's face, her tone of voice… She sounded scared. Not scared of snakes scared, either. Freeze your insides and hand over your larynx scared, she sounded.

Jaimie clicked the circular button on the remote, the one that turned on the television. On screen, there was a news anchor talking about something, but Reuben didn't care. He was too busy looking past the T.V., at the sliding glass doors they had had installed last month. Beyond them was a person, scratching at the glass, screaming to let her in. She had blood on her neck, staining the top left part of her tank top.

"Please! Oh, God, please let me in," she sobbed. Reuben didn't move. Jaimie, previously frozen to the spot, moved towards the door.

"No," said Reuben. "Don't move."

"We have to let her in, she's hurt."

"Tell me what you saw on the news," Reuben said.

"We have to let her in!"

"Don't move. We don't know her. What was on the news?"

"We have to-"

"Tell me what was on the news, now!" Reuben screamed. The woman continued sobbing and pressing herself upon the glass. Jaimie looked at her, and then at her dad.

"The anchor said there was a riot in the city."

"And?"

"_And_ nothing. He said there was a riot, that people were shooting stuff up and killing other people and crap."

"Sit down."

"But-"

"Sit down!" he yelled. "I'm going to let her in." Reuben stepped a bit closer to the door, and motioned to calm down. The he remembered that glass wasn't soundproof.

"Calm down. I'll let you in if you tell me your name." The lady stopped yelling and said, shakily, "Laura Ander. Please let me in. There is danger out here."

Reuben walked to the glass and let her in. She stepped in quickly and shut the glass door. She turned to Reuben.

"Do you have any weapons? We have to cover this glass up, now." She pulled the shade shut. "Weapons."

"I, uh, don't have any guns, if that's what you mean." He gestured with his eyes towards Jaimie, who hadn't taken her eyes off of this 'Laura'.

"Look, if you're keeping a secret handgun under your dresser, now's the time to pull it out. I hope it's ideal for home defense."

" Dad, is she right?" Jaimie looked stunned. "You can't have a gun. You _can't_. We don't keep guns." She was obviously put off by this. Then they all heard the slam against the glass.

"What the hell was that?" asked Reuben.

"What do you think?" said Laura. "One of _them._"

"You remind me of a movie," said Reuben. "What the hell was that? I'm being serious here." Another slam against the glass. A sharp sound cracked across the room.

"Daddy!" screamed Jaimie.

"Calm down!" said Reuben.

"We don't have time! Get a weapon, it's coming in!" said Laura. She had a very warrior like look to her now.

"_What_ the hell is coming in?" screamed Reuben. He briskly walked over and grabbed the shade retracting string. He pulled.

Beyond the glass, there stood a horror. It looked like a person, but no living person had ever lived beyond suck injuries It's lips were gone, exposing a human jaw, with a set of teeth, several of which had obviously been violently been ripped out. It's gut was slashed, showing intestine, and a knife was lodged in the throat of this creature. The nose was gone, exposing the nosebone, and the skin of the face was very much mangled. The only truly recognizable facial structures were the jaws and the lidless eyes. The thing stopped flailing against the glass when the shade was pulled back, and it seemed to flinch a bit when it saw the three humans staring back at it in horror and revulsion. Then it let out a guttural screech and threw itself all more frantically at the thick glass.

"Holy shit."

"Get your gun, now."

"Yeah." Reuben turned to run towards the stairs, and was met by another scream.

"Daddy!"

"Listen to me, Jaimie. Come with me upstairs. Now!"

"Go!" yelled Laura. Reuben grabbed Jaimie and whisked her away, up to his room. He reached into his closet and pulled out a box. Upon opening, this box held a very modern, very dangerous looking pistol. Reuben expertly loaded and cocked it, and after telling Jaimie to stay up here, looked at the staircase. He heard a crash, and then a scream. Laura's scream.

He ran downstairs, to see the creature crouched over her, with it's head buried into her stomach, gorging. She looked at him, her face a mask of agony and croaked, "The head." Then she closed her eyes. Reuben threw a cup from the coffee table at the creatures body. It stopped chewing, and pulled it's head out of Laura's body to look at him. He took aim and fired. The bullet passed into the monster's forehead, and traveled out of the back, finally lodging itself into the wall. The creature slumped to the ground, inanimate.

Reuben called to Jaimie to get downstairs, and keep her eyes closed. Of course she didn't. She started to scream, confronted with the carnage but Reuben slapped his hand over her mouth, and held her tight to his body.

"Listen. Do not scream. That can only do us harm. We must keep from calling attention to ourselves. There was one of those things, and there very, very easily could be more. Do you think it's a coincidence that there was rioting in the city, and then this happened?" She shook her head as much as she could, with his grip upon it. "Then do you understand why you can't scream?" She shook her head yes. He released her.

"What do we do?"

"We get the radio. And some food. Hurry!" After a few moments of quick preparation, they ran out the door, and got in the car. Reuben reached down, and started the ignition. They began driving towards the city. It was only three miles, after all.


	2. An Upsetting Car Ride

Jaimie and Reuben had been only been driving for a minute when they saw another one of the creatures. It stood out on the road, not moving until it heard the car's engine. It turned it's head to look, then started running towards the speeding car. Reuben didn't slow down.

"Uh, dad, we're going to hit that-" Jaimie cut herself off when a tremor ran through the car. The creature had hit the front bumper, and flipped up onto the hood of the car, where it gripped on. Jaimie looked back, and she saw it's legs hanging down over the back window, smearing it with blood. It's shins were obviously broken.

"Is it still on the car, Jaimie?" asked her dad, eyes unmoving from the road. Jaimie screamed when a loud thump came from the top of the car. Reuben looked up, and instantly regretted buying model with the moon roof.

"Daddy, get it off!" Jaimie screamed. Reuben had an idea. There was another of the creatures chasing a woman on the sidewalk. Reuben swerved the car behind the creature, and slammed the accelerator. The running monster flipped backwards over the windshield, and rammed into the one on top of the car, dragging it off. The creatures were left in a heap on the sidewalk.

"Dad… That lady, it's Niece! Slow down!" said Jaimie. Reuben didn't answer, but he did swerve back onto the street, keeping from hitting her. He sped past and took the ramp onto the freeway towards the city. After a moment he turned and looked at the expressionless Jaimie.

"Do you understand why I did that?" he asked her. She nodded as her eyes welled with tears. He looked away. "Then you understand why it was necessary." She nodded again. "Good," said Reuben as he passed the sign that said, in big, bright letters, "Welcome!".

"I thought you said there was rioting here… a few minutes ago," said Reuben.

"There was, you should have seen some of the footage. Oh, God…" said Jaimie as they stopped looking at eye level and started looking on the ground. There were so many bodies it would have taken days to count them all. The sheer amount of death that had occurred in just this small spot was enough to send a shiver up the most hardened soldiers spine. Instead of a shiver, it sent vomit up Jaimie's esophagus. She threw up all over the car, but only at first. She leaned down out of courtesy and finished on the floor.

"It's okay, honey," said Reuben to console her. The smell of vomit hit his nose, and he cringed. "It's okay. Oh, _shit!_" He said as he saw a horde of the monsters come out of the side streets, directly in front of them. It seemed as though they had simply appeared out of thin air, the fashion in which they showed themselves. There were none, then a hundred. However, it didn't matter how they did it, only that hundreds of very hungry cannibals were now running full speed at the car. Reuben turned tail, and sped off.

"It's okay. We're good, they won't catch up," he said.

"Dad," said Jaimie, after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what they are?"

"No," he said. It wasn't until this moment that Reuben realized that Jaimie totally relied on him to keep her alive. He was more than just a father figure now. He… he couldn't think about that right now. It was too much.

Reuben drove for a long time, hours on end, until they were well out into the countryside. He was hoping the… infection was isolated, and that the next urban area he came to would have heard and be prepared to defend. Defense, that was all that mattered at this point. He looked at sleeping Jaimie. He would defend her until death.

"Hey, Jaimie, wake up," he said, a while later.

"Whatzit… Hmm?" she said sleepily.

"I think I found a place where there aren't any things." Reuben had come upon a gas station-McDonalds rest stop type thing, the kind where there's one on each side of the highway. They were at least a hundred miles from any urban development, the infection wouldn't have spread to this place. He pulled into the parking lot, and got out. Jaimie unbuckled her seatbelt and started to follow.

"No, stay in the car," said Reuben.

"What, so I can be alone and helpless when one of those things attacks?"

"Fine, come." They walked through the dark parking lot towards the rest stop building.

"Dad, why are the streetlights off?"

"I don't know. The lights inside the building are on." They arrived at the door. Reuben pulled his gun out of his pants, and held it up. He pushed the door open and aimed at nothing in particular. Three people inside screamed.

"Woah, man, put the gun down! There ain't any of those things in here!" said one of them, a man. "I'm Ben, and these are Carrie," he pointed at a women, "and Len." He pointed at the other man. "I guess we're all lucky to be here." He pointed again, this time at a television above the counter of the McDonalds. On it there was an old episode of some sitcom.

"Yeah, real breaking news, suddenly everyone who loves Raymond is back from the dead," said Len sarcastically.

"What are you talking about?" asked Jaimie.

"Didn't you see someone get bit?" asked Carrie in return.

"Yeah, so what?" said Reuben.

"Didn't they get back up as one of them?" inquired Ben.

"Oh man… Is that how people become them?" asked Reuben. He had a very distraught look on his face. He dropped the gun. Len dove for it and aimed it at him.

"Are you bit?" he screamed from the ground.

"Len, calm down!" yelled Carrie.

"Dude, cool it," said Ben. Jaimie sat, quaking, and staring intently at the gun.

"No. I am not bitten. Please give me my gun," said Reuben very calmly. He didn't especially want to startle Len.

"This gun is freaking mine, now. I'm getting out of here." Len stood up and reached into his pocket, pulling out his car keys. Without another word, he ran out the door.

"Godammit. You know, I didn't like that guy when I met him here. Now what do we have to fight those things with?" said Ben. "Look, the news is back!" He said. The announcer appeared on the screen.

"The danger is growing. Attempt at all costs short of loss of human life to move towards the closest military presence. Repeat-" The television dissolved into static.

Hello, everyone. Sorry about the wait in between chapters, but in the middle of writing my computer crashed, so I lost my rhythm, and I'm afraid I needed some time to regain it. Thanks for your support. Also, I'd like to know why I've gotten 48 hits… but 3 reviews. I need your feedback, guys!


	3. An Unsettling Discovery

The static on the screen cleared again into a picture. There showed a field reporter in a city. It kind of looked like he was covering a war zone. In the corner of the screen, there was a little caption that said, in a very stylish and trendy font, 'Live Footage!'. The reporter was currently interviewing some sort of army man.

"I am currently speaking with Private Geoffrey Jennings of the 23rd battle platoon in Newark," said the reporter hurriedly. "We are here covering the struggle against these seemingly enraged mobs of rioters. What do you have to say about the riots, and how are you dealing with the uprising?" They were standing behind a military truck. The sound of machine gun fire rattled in the background.

"Well, these things we're fighting sure as hell ain't human beings." The soldier had a medium-thick southern accent. "The specialist we got out here is saying it's drugs they're on, but there's no drug lets you take a full clip to the heart and keep comin'. Chaplain says they're the devil's army, and I never was a religious man, but I'm startin' to believe him."

"And how are you combating these attackers?" An explosion cracked in the background, and a flash of light lit the sky beyond the truck. A person off camera whooped an obscenity enthusiastically.

"Well, last transmission we got was that martial law was declared, so we're shooting on sight, but that ain't keeping them back. In fact, the gunfire seems to just attract more of 'em." Then the sound of gunfire exploded. A man shouted, then the shout turned into a scream.

"Oh, shit!" screamed Private Jennings. He jumped up and pulled himself onto the top of the truck. The reporter told the cameraman to stay on him. The camera filmed ground for a second, then static erupted for a moment, and then it showed a scene of carnage that would never be allowed on normally censored television. Dead bodies lay strewn across the ground, but that wasn't the worst of it. The worst were the dead bodies that stood, gorging themselves upon the remains of an officer. Private Jennings swore, and opened fire. Then the camera leveled itself on a sweeping shot of the street. A multitude of swarming, ghoulish figures came for the truck. There were thousands of them, at the very least, and they showed no signs of being intimidated by the gunfire. The camera dropped to the ground, and over the creatures' moaning and the gunfire, only the sound of running steps and screaming could be heard.

"Whoa," said Carrie. "That's pretty intense." Her face was pale. So was Ben's, and Reuben's. And Jaimie's. It was certainly intense.

"What the hell are we going to do?" said Ben harshly. "Do you know how glad I was when you showed up with a gun? Now what?" He sounded slightly manic.

"We absolutely have to stay calm, for one thing," said Reuben. "For another, we have to get out of here. We should try to get somewhere safer than this. More defensible, I mean. Those monsters can break through these windows, I think. Also, We should go into a town to find some weapons." He opened his mouth again, as though he was going to say more, but closed it.

"So, does everyone here have a car?" asked Carrie. There were two nods. "Then, we'll stay together. I think us three as a group should stay together."

"Four," said Jaimie. "There are four of us."

"That's what I meant," Carrie quipped. "So, we should head down route 98 to Lerring. It's a small town, and it's in the middle of nowhere, so I bet there's none of the things there."

"Okay, let's go," said Ben. He turned to the door, but Reuben stopped him.

"We should stock up on food. We don't know when we'll get another chance. Let's look in all the kitchens of these restaurants," he said. The wisdom of these words met it's impact upon the other two adults. They nodded and made for the fast food counters. Ben went into the McDonald's, Reuben and Jaimie went into the SaladFresh, and Carrie went into the Papa Gino's. There was a big cooler full of salad in bags in the back of the SaladFresh, but they didn't take it out. They were interrupted by a scream. It sounded like it came from the McDonald's.

"Ben," said Reuben, and ran out to the open space of the rest area. He looked to the McDonald's, took a breath, and ran into it.

There was quite a scene in the McDonald's kitchen. Ben was on his back, fighting off another figure, obviously one of the ghouls that were sprouting up everywhere. Reuben yelled in surprise, then grabbed a frying pan off of a stove nearby him. He ran up to the ghoul, and slammed the large frying back down lengthwise on it's back. He heard a crack, and the demon's lower half went limp. It stopped attempting to bite Ben, and pushed itself off of him, flipping itself onto the floor, where it floundered about for a bit, before trying to drag itself with it's hands towards Reuben. Ben, slightly dazed, recovered quickly and jumped back towards Reuben. He grabbed the pan out of the other's hands and slammed it down on the monster's head. It's forehead caved it, and a shower of brain matter and blood spattered the two men.

"Fuck food, we're outta here."


	4. A Good Plan

The Honorable Alexander Downer, minister of foreign affairs and the Honorable Mark Vaile, minister of trade, sat down in a badly lit room with the Australian Prime Minister John Howard. All wore expressions of pure concern upon their faces.

"Mister Prime Minister… we have a problem within our borders," began Vaile.

"John, don't whack around the issue. Has the infection spread to our country?" said Howard.

"No! No, no, sir. Nothing nearly that bad. It's the, uh, refugees," Vaile responded.

"I don't see what the hell your problem is with the issue, Vaile. These people need to be here. You know as well as I do that here in Australia is the only safe place to be. It would be a crime not to allow these people to enter our borders," said Downer. "Refusing them entry is nothing short of murder."

"Just because the walkers haven't shown up here yet doesn't mean they won't, Alex! How do you think they got from North America over to Europe?" yelled Vaile.

"Hey! Stop yelling. We won't solve this by yelling," said Howard calmly. "Mark, we aren't going to close the border." Vaile glared at Downer. "However, every plane and boat that comes here will be quarantined five days, each. We are going to be as cautious as possible. We are not going to let the walkers in like Europe and Asia did." Downer nodded.

"That's reasonable."

"Yes."

"Now, for another thing, make sure we get a strong signal on satellite, we are going to broadcast far and wide that Australia is the place to be. That's as much as we can do for them."

"Who?" asked Vaile.

"The poor bastards who aren't already here."

Something clicked within Reuben's head. Something interesting. He reached over to his dashboard, careful not to awaken the sleeping Jaimie. His seeking hand found it's quarry, a rather small walkie-talkie, pulled it over to hid face, and a shaking finger pressed the TALK button.

Pshh. "Hey, Ben?" Pshh.

Pshh. "Yeah, man?" Pshh.

Pshh. "My name is Reuben, in case you were wondering." Pshh.

"Hmmm… Whajoosay?" Jaimie's sleepy eyes cracked open, and she leaned up from her seat, which was reclined almost vertically. She looked out the window, at the thick trees speeding by. Reuben obviously wasn't giving the legally appointed speed limit much thought.

Pshh. "Hey, yeah," said Ben. "I don't think Carrie or me even thought about that." Pshh.

Pshh. "I just wanted to make sure you knew." Pshh.

Pshh. "Okay." Pshh. Reuben then reached back and put the walkie-talkie on the dashboard.

"Are they following right behind us, dad?" asked Jaimie. Reuben nodded. Jaimie unbuckled her seat belt, and crawled into the back seat. She kneeled on the seat, facing backwards, and peered out the back window. Sure enough, a big pair of headlights peered right back at her. Though she couldn't see Ben or Carrie through the bright lights, she knew they could probably see her, so she waved. She noticed a slight movement through the light, which she assumed was Ben or Carrie waving back at her. Jaimie then climbed back into the passenger seat.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked.

"Not too long. It's still the same night it was before. Sorry I woke you up."

"It's okay." A comfortable silence passed between them for a moment, then broke.

"Dad," said Jaimie, "Do you think this is something biblical? Like the apocalypse?"

"You know how I feel about religion, Jaimie," Reuben responded with a slight smirk.

"So you think it's scientific?"

"I think it's a disease. Passed through saliva." Reuben pondered for a moment. "Probably any bodily fluid."

"Maybe it was the terrorists," said Jaimie.

"I doubt it. It would take a long time, and a big team of complicated scientists to synthetically make a drug or bio-weapon that makes people do this. It could have been terrorists, but isn't their style to send a bomber into a large crowd or something quick like that?"

"This spread pretty fast. Considering where the footage we saw earlier was, I think it's spread at least across the whole country. The news said that in some places the national guard wasn't even called upon, it happened so fast."

"I guess you're right, but you know something?"

"What?"

"If it's spread across the whole country, we need to get out of the country. From what I saw, if someone gets bitten, they kind of pass out or something, then when they wake up, they go nuts, but they aren't down for long. I think people would notice someone acting like this on a flight. If we can get to an airport, then we might be all set."

"Tell Ben and Carrie, dad." Jaimie passed the walkie-talkie to her father. He pressed the button,

Pshh. "Hey, guys, Jaimie and I have an idea." Pshh.

Pshh. "Shoot." Pshh. It was Carrie's voice.

Pshh. "We ought to head to that little airport in Middleton." Pshh.

Pshh. "That's a good idea, but where then?" Pshh.

Pshh. "We fly to a bigger airport, and hope to hell it isn't full of uglies." Pshh.

Pshh. "And we board a 747 or something, and fly to some place where there aren't any of the infected?" Pshh.

Pshh. "Yup." Pshh.

Pshh. "Good, good. Middleton is only an hour from here. Let's go. Exit 6." Pshh. Reuben put the walkie-talkie back onto the dashboard. Jaimie yawned and mumbled something about waking her when they were there. She reclined her seat again, and nestled down sideways. A few moments later, she was jolted back up by a sudden swerve Reuben made.

"Shit!" he yelled. "What the fuck is someone doing parked in the middle of the road?" As he said this, a screech, and then a loud bang sounded behind him. "Fuck… shitting fuck," Reuben whispered. Though the seat was still reclined, Jaimie was sitting bolt upright. Reuben pulled the car over to the side of the road, and got out. Looking back down the road, what he saw was the quintessential car crash. Jaimie walked up beside him.

"Oh, no…" she said. "Are they okay?"

"I don't know," said Reuben, and he began jogging towards the wreck.

When he got there, there was no question, both cars were totaled. A few flames leapt from the front of Ben and Carrie's car, and the car that was parked in the road was a few feet away, also with flames licking it's body. Fortunately, the door worked on the driver's side. Ben climbed out, with a slightly stunned look on his face. The flames from under the hood were growing.

"Carrie, get out of the car," said Ben. "Carrie?"

"Yeah… okay… yeah," responded Carrie. She climbed out of the passenger side door.

"There's enough room in my car, guys. We can keep going," said Reuben. The four of them walked back to Reuben's car. They got in, and started driving away. After a few minutes of driving, a huge explosion sounded behind them. A few seconds later, another one.

Jaimie smiled.

"What?" asked Carrie.

"My first explosion."

"Not your last, I bet," said Ben.


	5. Plan doesn't Pan

"Alright," said Carrie. "This is Middleton." Reuben, Jaimie, Carrie, and Ben had been driving for five hours, and now they had reached their temporary destination.

"The entrance to the airfield is on Helford Street, your next left," said Ben. Reuben turned, then entered the long driveway up to the Main Building. As he drove, Jaimie peered out the windows. There were some trees on the sides of the road, but all seemed deserted.

"I don't see any of the dead people."

"What do you mean, dead people?" asked Reuben. "We have to worry about the walking guys."

"The walkers are the dead people. They're undead. Like zombies," said Jaimie. Carrie raised one eyebrow and looked away. Ben turned to look at Jaimie.

"Look kid. Zombies aren't real. They're fairytale creatures. These things are real. They aren't dead. This is a disease, I know it. Dead people don't come back to life," he said.

"Hey, you never know," said Jaimie. She resumed looking out the window. Ben scoffed.

Reuben pulled into the parking lot, turned the car around, and parked it facing the exit. Then he popped the trunk, got out of the car, and walked back there to begin rummaging around. His three companions followed.

"Dad, what are you looking for?" Reuben didn't answer, but he did reach his hand way into the shadowy back of the trunk, and pull out a crowbar. He turned his back, and began walking towards the building.

"We have to see if anyone is inside. Hopefully we can get a pilot," he said.

"And what if we can't?" asked Carrie.

"We improvise," Reuben said with a smirk. They reached the door, and paused. Then Ben slowly reached forward, and put his hand on the door handle. He pulled.

"Fuck," he said. The door was locked. "Can I see that thing?" he said to Reuben, gesturing towards the crowbar. Reuben handed it to him, and Ben put the curved end inside the crack of the door, and applied pressure to the straight end of the crowbar. With little effort, the door burst open, and Ben and the crowbar fell in a heap on the stoop. Carrie suppressed a laugh, and Jaimie giggled. Reuben, however, reached down, grabbed the crowbar, and stage whispered to Ben.

"Let's try and avoid falling over as much as possible." At this, Jaimie giggled a bit more. They all walked inside the building.

The inside of the small airfield administrative building was like the lobby of an office building, except it was only one story. There was a brochure stand against the wall, and a help desk in one wall. Reuben looked around, and rested his eyes on a clock. It was 8:18 AM.

"I don't think there's anyone in here," said Ben. "Should we call?"

"No," said Carrie. "If the baddies are in here, we don't want to call attention to ourselves." Reuben and Jaimie nodded.

"So, let's look around," said Jaimie.

Jamie stepped in a bit, and Reuben and Ben and Carrie followed. Reuben hefted the crowbar. It was pitch dark within the building.

"Lights?" whispered Carrie. Suddenly a flashlight sparked to life in Ben's hands.

"Always carry one," he said through the side of his mouth. He flashed it to the back of the relatively large room. Nothing but a backpack propped against the wall, and grey-blue wallpaper.

"What the fuck's that?" said Ben, loudly. He flashed the light at a corner. Two luminous eyes glared at them. An unearthly squeal emanated from those eyes.

"Shit…" breathed Carrie. "Just a cat."

"Who leaves a cat in an airport office?" asked Jaimie. "No one's here."

"Let's go," said Reuben. The others gave noises of agreement. They walked out to the parking lot, got in the car, and pulled away.


	6. The Man

Jaimie glanced at her father from the back seat of the car, where she sat with Carrie. He was trembling. She closed her eyes and let herself tremble as well. She didn't know where they were anymore, and she suspected that neither did her dad. From what she saw they were driving aimlessly. They had left Middleton hours ago, and since then had stuck to highways. They'd seen a few cars with other people in them, but those had ignored them and gone speeding ahead. What they hadn't seen was any of the zombies. The highways were deserted of them.

"Where did that radio go?" asked Jaimie, breaking the silence. Ben perked up.

"You have a radio?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Ben, who looked like he had recently woken up from some sort of stupor. "It's in that box of stuff we grabbed. I think I put it in the trunk."

"We should stop and get it," said Carrie.

"No, we shouldn't," said Reuben. He reached down and flicked the car radio on. Ben winced. Then his eyes widened.

"Look," he said.

"Shit," muttered Reuben. A man was standing in the middle of the opposite lane. Actually, Jaimie doubted it was a man, judging by the dark blood stain in the shoulder of his white shirt. The figure moaned. Reuben swerved across lanes. Towards the person.

The car slammed into it, sending the man at least twenty feet into the air. It screamed, but there was something… wrong with the yell. It sounded human. Nothing like the ungodly screeches of the ghouls overtaking the world.

"No…" whispered Carrie. The man landed with a sickly crunch. Reuben glided to a stop. He opened the door, crowbar in hand. Carrie was the second out, followed by Ben and Jaimie.

"Jaimie, stay in the car," said Reuben.

"Screw you!" she yelled at him. Jaimie ran to the wounded man, and knelt over him.

"Is he okay?" asked Carrie, who sidled up next to them. Ben and Reuben stood back.

The man was writhing as well as could with every one of his bones broken. He locked eyes with Jaimie, and she lowered her head to his mouth, close enough to hear the faintest shadow of a whisper.

"My family… 15 Terrace Hill Boulevard…" he said.

"Where?" whispered Jaimie.

"The… the city… I left them, I left them…" he said, as a sob racked his body. "One of _them_… It bit me… Help my family, my baby-" the man cut off mid sentence and moaned. His eyes closed, and Jaimie heard her first death rattle. She stood up.

"What did he say?" asked Carrie.

"He left his family in the city because he got bitten. He asked me to help them."

"No," said Reuben. "We have enough problems."

"I know we can't," said Jaimie. "It's just sad."

"Oh shit…" said Carrie.

"What?" asked Ben. The man had begun moving. It flopped on the ground, desperately trying to get it's broken bones to work correctly. It flopped like a jelly fish towards Carrie, who backed away in horror. The kindly looking man's eyes had transformed into murderous death, as a snarl escaped the creatures lips.

"Let's keep driving…" said Ben. They all turned to the car.


End file.
